by Ryk Brown
“Do it,” Jessica told Sergeant Willem, grabbing Connor by the collar and pulling him aside.
“Damn it, Jess!” Connor protested.
“Look, I appreciate you wanting to carry him and all, especially since you don’t even remember who he is,” Jessica said. “But about twenty more troops are about to drop in on us, and Willem can move more quickly while carrying Dumar than you or I can. So Willem is carrying him…end of discussion. Got it?”
Connor paused for a moment, staring at her angrily. “Got it,” he finally agreed.
“Now, help me get all these people back to the cave so we can get the hell out of here, so he doesn’t die in vain.”
“Okay, apply a test load,” Dalen instructed Loki over his comm-set.
“Applying test load, now.”
Sparks shot out from the sides of the emitter, causing Josh to fall back on the topside of the Seiiki’s hull.
“Kill the power!” Dalen ordered, reaching into the sparks with his gloved hand, to try to pull one of the wires free.
The sparking stopped, and Dalen leaned in, blowing away the smoke in order to see clearer. “What the fuck, Josh?” he cursed. “Did you forget something?”
“What?”
“Like the ground?”
“There’s a ground?”
“Jesus, you’re worse than Marcus!”
“They’re coming!” Neli yelled from the mouth of the cave.
“Great,” Dalen muttered as he worked.
“Please tell me the emitter isn’t damaged,” Josh groaned.
“The emitter isn’t damaged,” Dalen replied as he tightened the screw on the ground wire. “I hope.”
“Oh, man…”
“Just go, get us ready for liftoff,” Dalen told him. “I’ve got this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Go!”
Josh stepped over Dalen, running across the top of the Seiiki’s hull to the starboard nacelle, toward the access ladder. “I’m on my way up, Lok!” he called over the comms as he headed down the ladder.
Josh ascended the short ladder up into the Seiiki’s cockpit, and quickly made his way down into the pilot’s seat on the left. Loki was straining to look out the windows toward the mouth of the cave, hoping to catch a glimpse of his wife and daughter.
“We spooled up?” Josh asked as he scanned his side of the console.
“Everything except for the forward lift fans,” Loki replied as he kept a vigilant watch. “Mains are in pre-ignition and standing by. We can liftoff within a minute of order.”
Josh glanced down at the sensor display, noticing icons for the shuttles outside, as well as the four Jung fighters flying cover over them. “How the hell did you get that to…”
“I patched it into the Ghatazhak tactical system’s sensor stakes outside.”
“Nice.”
Loki suddenly stood up, pointing. “There she is!” he cried out with unbridled excitement and relief. “Both of them!” Loki waved his hands frantically at his wife, hoping to catch her attention, but she was too busy watching her steps on the uneven cave floor to notice him waving from above. “Oh, my God,” Loki exclaimed, his voice cracking as if he were about to cry. He fell back down in his seat, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks. He looked at Josh. “They’re alive,” he sobbed. “They’re alive.”
Josh leaned over and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder in comfort. “Yeah, buddy, they are,” he said, his own eyes welling up. “I told you she’d get them.”
Two more Jung shuttles swooped in and landed not more than fifty meters from the mouth of the cave, their belly turrets firing. They hovered a meter above the ground as troops leapt to the ground from either side, also opening fire as they landed and ran toward either side of the road for cover.
“Keep them back!” Jessica yelled as she fired on the approaching troops. All four of them attacked relentlessly. Within seconds, half of the men who had jumped out of the two hovering shuttles were lying on the ground, either dead or dying, as the two shuttles turned away and disappeared behind flashes of light.
“Keep them to the sides to slow them down,” she instructed the other men.
“Try it again!” Dalen yelled over his comms, barely able to hear over the sounds of Ghatazhak weapons fire echoing throughout the cave.
“Applying power now!” Loki replied.
Dalen watched hesitantly, afraid to get excited.
“It’s holding,” Loki reported.
“Yes!” Dalen exclaimed, jumping up in the air. A stray energy blast from a Jung weapon outside streaked past his head, slamming into the ceiling a few meters away, sending shards of hot, melted crystal spraying in all directions.
“Jesus!” Dalen yelled, nearly falling over. He dropped to his belly and began replacing the cover plate around the emitter assembly.
“Get inside!” Loki ordered. “They’re falling back now.”
“Just a second!” Dalen replied. “I’m closing the cover plate now!”
Jessica and the Ghatazhak came running back toward the ship, leaping across the uneven surface of the cave, as Jung energy weapons fire streaked by all around them. Each Ghatazhak sergeant would systematically take turns pausing to return fire, all in practiced fashion, in order to keep their pursuers from advancing too quickly.
Connor and Marcus stood on either side of the Seiiki’s cargo ramp, facing forward toward the cave entrance, firing carefully to either side of the returning Ghatazhak to provide additional cover for their withdrawal to the ship.
“Spin up the mains and get ready to depart!” Connor ordered over his comm-set as he continued to fire.
Jessica was the last of the Ghatazhak to reach the ramp, and turned to join Connor in holding off the enemy. “Get inside!” she instructed Connor.
“The captain is the last one aboard!” Connor argued.
“Bullshit!” Jessica insisted. “Get moving!” She turned to Marcus as she continued firing. “Get him inside!”
“Come on, Cap’n!” Marcus yelled, grabbing Connor and shoving him up the ramp, as Sergeant Todd stepped to the side and fired back.
Jessica glanced back to check that Connor and Marcus were on their way up the ramp, just as Dalen jumped down from the back end of the ship and headed up behind them. “Tell them to takeoff!” Jessica yelled at the sergeant.
“Seiiki! Todd! Nash says to takeoff! Now!” the sergeant instructed over comms.
The Seiiki’s engines began to spin up, and her forward lift fan kicked up the smaller shards of broken crystal lying on the cave floor, scattering them in all directions.
Jessica and Sergeant Todd ceased fire and jumped up onto the end of the cargo ramp as it lifted off the ground along with the ship, running up the ramp as it began to rise.
“Let’s get out of here,” Josh said, as Jung weapons fire slammed into their underside and streaked past the cockpit windows.
“Nice and easy, Josh,” Loki reminded him. “We only need a few meters per minute to jump.”
“Coming up.”
“One……two……three meters. Initiating escape jump,” Loki announced.
Josh released the controls, expecting the auto-flight systems to take over while they were in the jump sequence. The ship dipped slightly left, and the windows did not turn opaque. “What the…” Josh grabbed the flight controls again. “We’re not jumping, Loki!”
“I know we’re not jumping, Josh! I can see that!”
Josh glanced forward, noticing that the mouth of the cave was coming up. “Fuck this,” he declared, slamming the throttles forward.
Loki was pushed back in his seat. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m not being a sittin’ duck, that’s what I’m doing!”
> “A what?”
“Why aren’t we jumping?” Connor asked, climbing up into the Seiiki’s cockpit.
“I don’t know!” Loki replied as the ship dipped to the right and started a quick turn to avoid striking a rock face half a kilometer beyond the mouth of the cave.
Connor grabbed the overhead rail to steady himself. “I thought you guys fixed the emitter!”
“We did!” Josh assured him. “At least, I think we did!”
“Why aren’t the inertial dampeners on?”
“We didn’t have time to spin them up before departure,” Loki replied.
“You could’ve warned us!” Connor tapped his comm-set. “Neli! Marcus! Make sure everyone is strapped in until we get the inertial dampeners online! Dalen! Figure out why we can’t jump!”
“Hang on!” Josh warned as he pitched up to clear the ridgeline in front of them.
Connor felt his feet coming off the deck as Josh passed over the ridge and then pitched back down sharply. “What the hell are you doing, Josh? Trying to kill us?”
“Actually, I’m trying to keep those fighters from killing us!” Josh replied, maneuvering wildly as the bright red bolts of energy fired from the pursuing Jung fighters streaked past the ship.
“Jesus!” Connor cried out, trying to hold on. “Get the fucking inertial dampeners up, will you?”
“Online in ten seconds, Captain,” Loki replied.
“There’s nothing wrong with the jump drives or the emitters!” Dalen reported over the comms. “Not that I can see, anyway!”
“Then why couldn’t we jump?” Connor wondered, frustration in his voice.
The ship lurched suddenly, knocking him against the port bulkhead.
“Inertial dampeners in three……two……one……”
Connor suddenly felt the ship become more stable, despite the fact that the horizon outside was dancing.
“You’re free to maneuver at will,” Loki told Josh.
Josh immediately rolled the ship over several times in rapid succession, as more red bolts of energy streaked past them. Another bolt struck the ship, rocking it again.
“Maybe the crystals in the caves had something to do with it!” Dalen suggested. “Try it again!”
“What?”
“Try it again, Cap’n! It should work!”
“Anything’s better than this,” Josh declared as he continued to dodge the enemy’s attacks.
“We’ll never outrun those fighters, Captain,” Loki pointed out.
“What the hell,” Connor declared. “Jump us again!”
“Point us to the sky,” Loki instructed. “Jumping in three…”
Josh pulled the Seiiki’s nose up, again pushing her main engines up to full power.
“Two…”
Two more energy bolts slammed into the ship, causing her port side to lurch.
“If those energy bolts hit our jump fields…” Connor began.
“One……jumping.”
The windows turned opaque as the Seiiki slipped into a jump, clearing a moment later to reveal a field of stars against the blackness of outer space.
“Whoo-hoo!” Josh cried out.
“Jump complete!” Loki declared.
“Thank God!” Connor added.
“Contacts!” Loki reported. “Jump flashes! Four of them, directly astern and two million kilometers and closing. They’ll detect us in seconds.”
“Snap jump!” Josh ordered.
Loki didn’t even reply, already executing the emergency snap jump algorithm he had programmed into the Seiiki’s jump computers prior to leaving the Lawrence Spaceport.
“What the hell?” Connor said as they jumped.
Josh immediately changed direction, bring the ship hard to port. “Make them longer as we go,” he reminded Loki.
“I remember,” Loki assured him, as his fingers danced across the jump interface.
“Snap us again,” Josh ordered.
The windows cycled opaque and clear again, after which Josh turned to starboard and then pitched down. Seconds later, Loki snap-jumped the ship again.
Finally, after six snap jumps, Josh turned to Loki and said, “That ought to buy us a few minutes.”
“What the hell was that?” Connor asked.
“We call it, shakin’ a tail,” Josh replied proudly. “It was originally Loki’s idea.”
“I didn’t know we could snap jump like that,” Connor admitted.
“Normally, you can’t,” Loki explained. “I programmed it into your jump systems before we left. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, not at all, believe me,” Connor replied.
“Let’s head home,” Josh suggested, “before they figure out where we went.”
“Good idea,” Connor agreed.
“Captain,” Loki asked. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go check on my wife and daughter.”
“Of course, Loki,” Connor replied. “I think I can handle it from here.”
Loki looked at Josh and smiled, as he climbed out of his seat.
“Give them both a kiss for me,” Josh told Loki as he headed aft.
Connor slid down into Loki’s seat to take his place. He paused a moment to look around and get his bearings. “Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever sat on this side,” he realized.
“You wanna switch places?” Josh offered.
“No, that’s all right, Josh,” Connor replied, as he called up the jump series to return to Lawrence. “I think you’ve earned the right to sit in that chair for a while.”
* * *
Connor walked solemnly down the cargo ramp, pausing at the foot to look out across the group of people they had just rescued. It had been a tense, two-hour journey back to Burgess, due to the convoluted route required to ensure that they could not be followed.
Once they had landed, and the passengers stepped onto solid ground and felt safe, their rejoicing could begin. They had escaped their captive world, frightened by the ordeal, but unscathed nonetheless. All except for the Dumar family, who had suffered the loss of their patriarch.
Connor felt guilty that he had no memory of the man. Jessica had spoken of him during her tales about the rescue of Nathan Scott’s consciousness, but she had never told Connor of Nathan’s relationship to the man. He felt as if he should be devastated by the admiral’s death, yet he felt…indifferent.
Jessica and the three Ghatazhak sergeants came down the ramp behind him. Jessica stopped beside Connor, placing her hand on his shoulder, as the rest of the Ghatazhak continued down the ramp toward the gathered evacuees who were now being greeted by med-techs, and others sympathetic to their plight. “This is the good part,” Jessica told him.
Connor looked at her, puzzled. “How so?”
“Follow me,” she told him, continuing down the ramp.
Connor hesitated a moment before following her. As they followed the other Ghatazhak through the crowd, those who had just been rescued parted to make way, offering thanks and grateful handshakes as their rescuers passed.
Connor felt odd accepting such thanks, as he felt he had done very little, despite his fleeting moments of bravery on the surface of Corinair. But it also felt good, as if he had done something noble…something that few men would have done.
As Connor passed through the crowd, his eyes caught those of Rorik, Anise, and Kyla Dumar. He nodded politely, doing his best to express his sorrow and respect for their loss. His mind flashed back to that moment on Corinair only a few hours ago, where he had stood there, frozen, and the retired admiral had risen up to save him, sacrificing himself. The guilt was overwhelming.
On the far side of the crowd stood General Telles, leader of the last of the fabled Ghatazhak, along with his tr
usted second, Commander Jahal. Neither man smiled, which, as Connor understood it, was customary for the Ghatazhak.
The general shook the hands of the three returning sergeants. Jessica paused a moment to talk to the general, before joining her team for their debriefing with the commander.
Connor turned and looked back at the crowd of people. His own crew was among them, enjoying the well wishes of the thankful evacuees. The sight made him smile. His crew had also gone above and beyond for these people, and he had never been more proud of them.
“Congratulations, Captain,” the general greeted.
Connor turned and shook the general’s hand. “General.”
“Lieutenant Nash tells me you were instrumental in the completion of the mission. She even tells me that you joined in on the firefight, quite possibly saving the lieutenant’s life. I wish I could say I was surprised.”
“I am,” Connor admitted.
“I, for one, am not. You are the clone of Nathan Scott, after all. And he was, you are, one of the bravest, most honorable men I have ever known.”
“Thank you, I think,” Connor replied.
Two med-techs wheeled the covered body of Travon Dumar on a gurney, the admiral’s family following close behind.
“We didn’t save everyone, though,” Connor admitted.
“The lieutenant tells me that the admiral sacrificed himself to save you,” the general said. “That also does not surprise me. It is the nature of brave men, which Travon Dumar most certainly was.”
Connor scratched the side of his head. “I still can’t figure that one out,” he admitted. “Why he did that. Stood up and charged forth into the gunfire that way.”
“To save someone he felt all humanity would be better served, if kept alive,” the general explained. “Think about that, while you decide what to do next.”
Connor watched as General Telles turned and headed back across the tarmac toward the Ghatazhak hangar, Admiral Dumar’s last words still echoing in his mind.
